The invention relates to rail vehicles and, more particularly, to-rail vehicles including an end car extended by a cab.
In the rail industry, and in particular for trams, it is known to have driving cabs which are welded or bolted to the end of the end car. Such cabs are generally cantilevered out from the pivot axis of the bogie and have the drawback, when the car is engaged in a bend, of being off-centered towards the outside of the bend. Unfortunately, a general problem which exists for all rail vehicles is that of complying with the established railway loading gauge.
A known solution for limiting off-centering of the cab in bends consists in positioning the bogies as close as possible to the ends of the car. However, such a solution has the drawback of increasing off-centering of the middle of the car towards the inside of the bend, and thus of increasing the ground area occupied by the vehicle in bends.
Another known solution for limiting off-centering of the cab in bends consists in designing cabs of converging shape, having sides that taper so as to remain within the limits of the loading gauge when the car takes a bend. However, such a solution has the drawback of reducing the volume of the cab and of complicating its manufacture.
An object of the present invention is thus to remedy those drawbacks by proposing a rail vehicle including an end car which is extended by a cab whose ground occupancy is optimized in bends so as to remain within the loading gauge of the track, and thus make it possible to use an extended cab or a cab of width that is identical to the vehicle loading gauge over substantially the entire length of the cab.
The invention preferably applies to trams for which the problem of cab size in bends is increased because of the need to take tight bends.
The invention provides a rail vehicle including an end car extended by a cab, wherein the car and the cab have separate structures with adjacent ends that are pivotally mounted on the same bogie., the structure of the cab being supported solely by the bogie while cantilevered therefrom, the cab being connected to control means for controlling the angular positioning of the cab relative to the bogie.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the control means ensure that the cab turns towards the inside of the bend, relative to the bogie, while being servocontrolled by the turning movement of the adjacent car relative to the bogie.
According to yet another characteristic of the invention, the car and the cab are mounted to pivot relative to the same axis carried by the bogie.
According to another characteristic of the invention, the control means are constituted by mechanical elements connecting the cab to the adjacent car.